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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Week 7 of decluttering: The Yard

I've had a bit of a busy week this week and will freely admit to not getting around to any decluttering. So I am cheating and posting a decluttering project that we did a few weeks ago. I wasn't really involved in this project so I can't claim credit for it. All the work was courtesy of hubby, FIL and BIL.

Before we started the other side...

We've been having trouble with mold in our house for a little while. During Winter the house heats up inside and forms condensation which runs down the inside of the windows causing the mold to build up. There is always condensation on the windows during Winter no matter what time of day and it's steadily been getting worse since we've been in this house. We don't have a lot of light in the bedrooms during Winter due to some conifers that had grown completely out of control so we decided we would cut these down as a first action for getting rid of the mold. I wish we'd taken so more pictures before we'd started chopping down the trees but we all got a little excited ;) This photo is taken of one of the conifers before it was chopped down (there were two originally - one of either side).

Of course, the kids enjoyed 'helping out' with this task. I didn't see them for most of the day as they were so busy outside.

Jacob shovels the sawdust and does some digging

Esme tries on the gloves for size.

We were left with a huge pile of branches at the end of the day. Luckily, my FIL came back with a mulcher the following weekend and he and hubby got rid of most of this pile. We had a lovely pile of mulch to put on the garden!

The pile of branches we were left with (actually this was only from one tree!)

The end result of clearing these two trees was amazing. For those of you that know our place you will see what I mean in these photos. I'm still getting used to the amount of light in our room at night and being able to see into the bedrooms from the driveway but I'm sure it won't take long. I do love having more light upstairs during the day though and it's already seemed to have made a difference with the amount of condensation on the windows.

Looking towards the entrance to the house, previously you wouldn't have been able to see the steps or this bedroom window!

Looking the other direction, towards the carport.

If anyone has any more suggestions for how to minimise mold, please feel free to share! Our next step after clearing these trees is to add ventilation to the bedrooms upstairs (yep, there was none added in the building of this house!!) and changing the exhaust fan in the kitchen to vent out of the house (it is vented into the kitchen currently!!)

2 comments:

WOW!! That looks amazing, Narelle! Love it!Anthony says putting in more ventilation is fantastic for reducing the condensation problem (and I can never understand why people install kitchens without venting the steam out of the house). He also said there's a special paint that either gets rid of mold or prevents it from starting (I can't quite remember which way, sorry!). Personally, I would try clove oil to kill the mold if you don't want to repaint straight away - it's about the only natural product that actually kills mold. xo

Thanks Kate! We've been having long discussions with my Dad about what to do about the mold. He's a builder too which is very handy for getting stuff done lol. I'm just not sure that putting the ventilation in will solve the problem though, as we have been having the windows in all the bedrooms open a crack and still the condensation builds up. But it's definitely first point of call! Will give the clove oil a go too!

About me

I'm a Mum to four gorgeous kiddies, Jacob who is 8, Esme who is 6, Gideon who is 3, and Lorelei, our newest addition.
I currently combine being a SAHM with working one day a week as a special education teacher. I'm also a volunteer with the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
We are doing our best to raise our kids in a way that responds to their needs and respects our environment. We are proud to practice sling wearing, co-sleeping, demand feeding, cloth nappying, elimination communication and homebirthing.